Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallieOpening Statement:
“I thought we had two great halves of defense and I thought that Chloe [Wells] and Lex [Alexis Jones] and Chelsea [Gray] really got that generated for us to start with. Offensively, we were sharp in the first half, a little bit less so in the second. But overall, I love the offensive balance and productivity. I thought Chloe was really just smart, sharp, looking for things. I love the fact that she had three assists, no turnovers, handling the basketball, setting up plays, just really paying attention to what’s going on on the floor. That’s really important. So I thought that was great for her and great for our team. I thought we got better. It was a great crowd. It’s been a special weekend having the 2003 Final Four members back. That’s been very special, along with the coaches, Gail Goestenkors and Gale Valley and coming back to Duke. Just really remembering some great history – that’s really important to a program and it’s really important to us because it’s important to connect the current players with former players like a Lindsey Harding and things of that nature. So it’s been quite a weekend. Last night was a great dinner and a great opportunity for our team to meet those people, spend time together, share little stories and I think it gives them a sense of how much they’re being followed by former players and former coaches. We’ve got Sweet Night tonight, which Alli’s [Vernerey] been spearheading that. That’s exciting. Alli’s really done a lot of work with that and the DCI [Duke Cancer Institute]so there’s a lot of things coming to fruition here this weekend. It’s been kind of busy. But I thought we got better. And I love it when our guard play is strong. It’s really, really important that our guards make the most of every possession. That’s really important.”

On going to a bigger lineup when other players got into foul trouble:
“They’re always ready to play. I think the versatility of this team has been one of the key parts. You can’t always see it because you don’t always need to use it, but we did have some foul trouble. I think it was when Chelsea and Lex both had two fouls. So we were just rotating people in. And Haley [Peters]’s really great that way because she can play the three and the four and the five. So we can have different combinations. Richa [Jackson] is pretty versatile as well with the three and the four. It was just good to have a different look there for a while and I like that our defensive intensity stayed consistent regardless of substitution or regardless of defenses we were playing.”

On how Chloe Wells has improved since returning to the floor:
“I always look to reward people that are going after it. It’s a long season and there’s an opportunity for everybody but you’ve got to fight for it and you’ve got to be consistent, and Chloe’s been doing that. She’s a fighter in practice, really aggressive – it kind of starts in practice. And then from there, taking advantage of opportunity. I thought Chloe played very confident and strong at Connecticut, and that was very helpful to our team despite the score and what not. And I think that’s continued. Clemson was okay – Chloe still had six steals in that game. The key is to be productive, to get stuff done, and not have a situation where you’re just not doing anything. I think when Chloe has a chance to help us defensively and offensively, and get the ball inside and out is when I think we’re the most dangerous. We’ve got to get the ball inside because the players we have, but then you saw somebody like Elizabeth [Williams] get the ball back out, have five assists – as a matter of fact lead us in assists, which I don’t think is a great thing for [the guards]. But she did lead us in assists so we benefit from E’s passing.

On how Boston College’s program has improved:
“I think they’re improved. They look for each other, they execute well. They don’t have a lot of depth, so those five or six really play well together. They’re very well-coached and they don’t ever give up and they keep shooting. That 21 [Kristen Doherty] has been a thorn in our side. She has shot the ball well. They keep coming at you, and that’s why I like our defensive consistency. I think holding them 25 percent from the three-point line, 30 percent for the game – you’ve got to really be able to wear people out in this game that we play. It’s a 40-minute battle, no matter what it looks like in the first 10 minutes and you’ve got to be able to wear people out. I thought our team did a good job of wearing them out.”

Duke Junior Chloe WellsOn contributing after being away from the game:
“It is really important. I’m just grateful that I’m back and have the opportunity again, and everyday I’m just going hard whether it is on the court or off the court just trying to get everybody together. It’s really great for me.”

On recovering from injury:
“It was tough. I came back from my suspension ready to go, and then I got injured, so I had to refocus my mind. Now, I’m playing hard, but I get tired, so I’m trying to get my stamina back up.”

Duke Junior Haley PetersOn her double-double:
“I’m happy with it. I’m just trying to rebound more and more consistently this year. It is really important for our team, and so that is my primary focus. I know I am going to get into spots to score with [Elizabeth Williams] and Chelsea [Gray] and everyone on our team that can pass so well, so really the rebounding is the most important to me.”

On the importance of having five players in double figures:
“I think we did a great job today in working off each other in terms of our energy and it was awesome to have Chloe go 5-for-5. Everyone was aggressive and feeding off each other’s energy. I think our energy was a lot better today than it has been, and I think that just comes in having a lot of people score double figures.”

Boston College Head Coach Erik JohnsonOn how Katie Zenevitch was used today:
“It’s interesting Katie has such a versatile game that she is able to beat teams a lot of different ways. One of the things she can do is pull people away from the basket. She is good at setting ball screens on the perimeter and diving in towards the basket rather than grinding it out against other bigs. It has nothing to do with work ethic. She will give you every ounce of effort that she has. Just as we are evaluating our players, we are evaluating ourselves as a coaching staff. This is one of those games where our scout will look at is as “how could we have attacked Duke better?” In the first game at home it was our transition game and our ability to move the basketball and penetrate that kept us competitive in the second half. We focused on that but to be honest Duke has great coaches as well and they worked on being able to stop that in this game. I told my players that the good news is that people are preparing for us now. We do give them a fight. We play them hard and we come into every game looking to win, not to keep the game close. Duke was great. Their hands were everywhere, keeping us from passing and shooting effectively.”

On the best part of this team:
“They have absolutely welcomed our staff with open arms. All we have asked of them is to give us their hearts, their minds, and their souls. We just ask them to have an open mind as we try to figure this stuff out. We are still getting to know them. We made some big changes to take advantage of Katie’s guard skills. As a coaching staff we have a lot of learning to do but there is no question that these guys come in every day, willing to do anything that they can and playing as hard as they can. As a coach that effort is all you can ask for.”

On what he saw from his team today:
“What we were able to do was stay with them and withstand some of those streaks. Tricia Liston was on fire in the first half. She is one of the best shooters in the nation. I really believe our team will never quit. I felt like there might have been some individual performances where people got down on themselves, but that is part of the learning experience. That is why you come to Cameron Indoor Stadium to play at the highest level against the best teams in the country, to learn how to get better.”

On responding to Chloe Wells’ three-pointer at the end of the shot clock:
“One of the things we talk about in our scout is that Duke makes you pay for your mistakes, that’s what really good teams do. When we are playing hard and making smart decisions we play them pretty well but they are still going to make some shots. We have to be able manage those emotional ebbs and flows. Your right, we played good defense for 28 seconds and Wells hits a 26-footer. You know what? You have to pull yourself up from your boot straps and score on the other end. You have to have the attitude that ‘If you’re going to make a big shot, we are going to make a big shot.’ This is the progression that we are on. We have done that in a lot of games. Now we need to do that at the highest level. The only way to do that is to keep playing high level teams. Fortunately we are in the ACC so we will keep having that opportunity to play every single night and we will continue to improve. ”

Boston College Junior Kristen DohertyOn what she enjoys about this team:
“We play as a team. We don’t have players trying to take on opposing teams by themselves. We know that we play our best when we make that extra pass or help each other out defensively. That is my favorite part about basketball in general. When you play as a team and have good chemistry then the game becomes much more fun. We’ve made so many strides in that aspect of our game and we will only continue to get better.

On what she learns playing against Duke:
“They make you pay for every mistake you make. When we get into those huddles and when we make a mistake we need to work on not letting those mistakes affect us as much as we do. Some kids are hanging their heads and we have to try to help each other out. We need to stop letting teams go on runs against us. We need to come out more aggressively and not hang our heads.”